BIRDS OF PORTO RICO. 



125 



Food. — The stomachs of 20 of these birds were examined, collected every 

 month from December to August except March. The animal content comprises 

 29.89 per cent and the vegetable 70.11 per cent. Though animal food was found 

 in every stomach, the quantity was small in some cases, the main dependence 

 for sustenance being upon vegetable matter. 



Orthopterous eggs (1.17 per cent) were found in two stomachs taken in 

 December and January. Scarred-snout beetles came to 9.57 per cent, and in 

 three cases were the cane root-boring weevil (Diaprepes spengleri) and in five 

 consisted of fragments of coffee leaf-weevils (Lachnopus sp.). Miscellaneous 

 weevil remains in eight instances came to 4.57 per cent. With the powerful 

 bill of this grosbeak the insects eaten were ground up into very small fragments 

 so that they were hard to recognize. Fragments of other beetles (10.42 per 

 cent) were found in 12 stomachs, and among them a buprestid (Acmceodera sp.) 

 and a Cryptocephalus were identified. Caterpillars (3.07 per cent) were eaten 

 twice. Spiders, found only once, amount to 0.16 per cent. Miscellaneous animal 

 matter, including bits of snail shell, a neuropteran, and a scale insect (Lecanium 

 sp.), constitute 0.93 per cent. 



Though a few grass seeds are eaten, most of the seeds found in these stom- 

 achs are those of wild berries and small fruits, none of any value to man. As 

 much gravel is eaten, the seeds in most cases are ground up and digested, as 

 well as the pulp surrounding them. These stomachs were examined carefully 

 for remains of coffee berries, but no trace of them was found, and from the data 

 available the bird is to be considered beneficial. Though animal food forms 

 slightly less than one-third of the bulk, it is composed almost entirely of inju- 

 rious insects of considerable importance to agriculture. It may be that this 

 grosbeak feeds at times on coffee or small garden legumes, but few complaints 

 were heard, so that the habit, if practiced, seems to be infrequent. 



A list of identified seeds follows : 



Paspalum (Paspalum sp.) 5 



Paspalum (Paspalum millegrama) 2 



Fimbristylis (Fimbristylis sp.) 3 



Whitetop (Dichromena ciliata) 2 



Star grass (Hypoxis sp.) 3 



Vetch (Vicia sp.) 1 



Espino (Xanthoxylum sp.) 3 



Camacey (Miconia sp.) 5 



Aji (Capsicum, sp.) 5 



Moral (Cordia sp.) 3 



Palo moro (Psychotria brachiata) 1 



CARIB GRASSQJjIT. Tiaris bicolor omissa (Jardine). 

 Chamorro, Gorrion, Chamorro Bicolor. 



The Carib grassquit is an abundant resident in Porto Rico, especially so on 

 the dry south coast. Except at Mameyes and Aibonito, it greatly outnumbered 

 the other species of grassquit. These birds occur wherever there is any cover 

 for them in the cane fields, the maya hedges, thickets, coffee plantations, or 

 second-growth forest. They are tame, unsuspicious little birds, that are found 

 in pairs and sometimes in small flocks. In riding through the cane fields at dusk 

 they were continually fluttering along ahead, so that the cane was full of their 

 rustlings. They were found often working through the trees in various locali- 

 ties, searching through the limbs exactly like honey creepers, and there were so 

 many in the open fields that it was surprising to find them at home in the dense 

 second growth of the forest. 



The breeding season appears to extend well through the year, fully fledged 

 young being observed from January to June, and breeding birds were taken in 

 every month in which I collected. Loose flocks, mainly young birds, were en- 

 countered all through the year while the adults were in pairs and nesting. 

 Nests were located in maya hedges, or bushes, only a foot or so from the 

 ground, and were always concealed. One found in a coffee plantation near 



